Prof. Greg Jackson

Yes, actually.

And I think the best way to do that is on open waters.

You want to go on a history cruise?

I think that's a great idea.

And you know what?

We should record an episode of The Road to Now at sea.

Okay, but you have to do your live show then.

So you want me to do my live show and launch my book?

Come hang out with me, come hang out with Ben, and have a great time in the Caribbean.

Visit htdscruise.com slash 100 for $100 off per cabin.

That's htdscruise.com slash 100.

It's an early Wednesday morning, July 3rd, 1940, and Captain Cedric Holland has a stern, tense face as his vessel, the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Foxman, cuts through the Mediterranean Sea, making its way to Al-Mars Al-Kabir, Algeria.

Well, currently, that's Mars Al-Kabir, French Algeria.

See, for nearly a century, the French have considered this North African region just across the Mediterranean more than a simple colony within its vast worldwide empire.

Rather, it's held to be an integral part of France itself.

French Algeria is home to the French Foreign Legion, and right now, the bulk of the mighty French Navy, now lying at anchor in the harbor of Meuse-et-Cabille.

And it's the fleet's presence in this French Algerian harbor that brings us to Cedric Collin's mission.

A mission that the trim, calm captain with a sense of discipline that exudes from his angular, serious face is very much not looking forward to.

It's now around 9 a.m.

The Foxhound is entering Merce-El-Kebir's waters.